Fruit-grading machine.



C. H. BAKER.

FRUIT GRADING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION FILED SEPT. 22,1913.

1,089,034, Patented Mar. 3, 1914.

INVEN TOR, CH. Baker,

WITNESSES I- BY hm ATTORNEY l FA NT llllll le lliol FRUIT-GRADINGMACHINE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CAREY H. BAKER, a citizen of the United States,residing at atsonville, in the county of Santa Cruz and State ofCalifornia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Fruit-GradingMachines, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to improvements in fruit grading machines.

The object of the invention is to provide a machine of this characterwith which picked fruit may, without injury, be freed from leaves andother objects gathered in picking, may then be displayed on a table inorder that imperfect fruit may be re moved therefron'i by hand, and thendelivered on to a shaking grader table.

A further object bf the invention is to provide cheap and simple meansfor efficiently shaking the table to cause the advance of the fruitthereover, for the purpose of grading it.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical sectionof my i1nproved machine; and Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof.

Since my improved machine has been devised. more particularly for thepurpose of grading apples, I shall herein describe it as so used. It is,however, to be understood that the invention is not limited to this use,but is intended for all uses for which it may be found applicable.

Referring to the drawing, 1 indicates a shallow receptacle, supported bya suitable frame 2, into which receptacle the apples are deposited, andfrom the sloping bottom 3 of which they are discharged on to a separator4t consisting of round metal bars 6, covered with rubber tubes 7, toprevent injury to the fruit, said bars being spaced apart suflicientlyonly to permit leaves and other extraneous objects to drop therethrough,while preventing the apples from so dropping. These foreign substancesdrop into a chute 8, down which they slide, and from which they aredeposited in a suitable place. From the separator the apples are movedonto a sloping selecting table 9 having side walls 10, near which standoperators, who move the apples along the table with their hands, at thesame time picking out, and depositing in a hbpper 11, extending throughthe table, the culls or imperfect apples, said hopper 11 Specificationof Letters Patent.

Application filed September 22, 1913.

Patented l'l'ilar. 3?, little. Serial No. 791,074.

communicating with a chute 12, by which sa d culls and the like aredeposited in any suitable place. From the lower end of the selectingtable the apples are discharged on to the upper end of a sloping gradintable 13, by which they are graded according to their sizes. Theconstruction of the table 13, however, forms no part of my presentinvention, and need not be further specified. The upper end of saidtable 13 is pivotally supported upon the upper end of a lever 14.,pivoted at 15 upon a suitable support 16, and a longitudinallyreciprocating or shaking motihn is imparted to said table by thefollowing IHGCllZtlllSlD. Upon the frame 2 is mounted an electric motor17, the shaft of which carries a pulley 18 around which travels a band19, traveling also around a pulley 21 supported upon a shaft rotating insuitable bearings Said shaft 22 carries gear wheel 2st which meshes witha pinion 26 011 a shaft 27 carrying a gear whel 28 which meshes with apinion 29 upon a shaft Bl carrying a wheel 32. To a wrist pin 33 on thewheel 32 is pivoted the rear end of a pusher rod 34-, the forward end ofwhich passes through the forked lower end of the lever ll, and can restupon a pin 37 extending transversely through said lower end. The forwardportion of the pusher rod is formed in its lower edge with a notch 38,of which the front side is sloping but the rear side extends at rightangles to said edge, and, when said pusher rod moves rearwardly owing toits operative connection with the wheel 32, said rod can drop bygravity, assisted by a spring 39, of which the upper end is attached tothe pusher rod, and the lower end is attached to the frame and the rodcan thus be engaged by said pin 87. The front end of the lower edge ofsaid pusher rod is formed with an upwardly and forwardly slopingportion, which can engage the upper edge of a transverse plate *l-l sothat, as the pusher rod advances, it is also raised by said plate, untilfinally the notched portion of the rod is raised from off the pin 37.Thereupon the lower end of the lever immediately springs back under theaction of a spring 42, of which the front end is attached to said lowerend, and the rear end is supported by the frame 9, the machine. By thismovement there is imparted to the grading table a rapid forward motion.This rapid forward motion, together with the of the selecting table,comprising longitudinal bars having substantially the same slope as saidtable and a receptacle having a slop ing bottom discharging on to saidseparator.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set slow rearward motion, cause theapples or other fruit to advance over the grading table in a propermanner for grading the fruit.

I claim The combination of a movable grading table, means forreciprocating the same, a my hand in the presence of two subscribingsloping selecting table having side walls and witnesses.

(lischar 'ing on to said gradin table, the I T slope 0i said selectingtable beii lg less than GAREX BAKER that at which fruit rolls down thesame, a Witnesses:

J. E. GARDNER,

hopper extending upwardly through the se- ADAM BARBER.

lecting table a separator at the upper end cop!" of this patent may beobtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Yatenu,Washington, D. C.

